The Last of US Part II Review (Spoilers and TW: abuse, transphobia, parental death)

The Last of US Part II was one of my most anticipated games of 2020. I remember being hyped when I saw the first trailer back in 2018, and then continuing with game play footage at E3 2020.

 

After finally playing it and finishing the game I felt like I needed to get my thoughts on this game. I always had history with Naughty Dog, I started young with Crash Bandicoot, spent my teen years with Jax and Daxter, and got older with the Uncharted Series and Last of Us, and it felt as Naughty Dog was growing with me.

 

Last of Part II is set five years after the events of the first game. Joel and Ellie are in Jackson in a nice community. Ellie is now older, and is doing patrols keeping clear of any infected.

At the start of the game you also play as a mysterious women named Abby, who is trying to find someone in Jackson. After a series of events Abby confronts the person she is looking for and it happens to be Joel. Where it becomes controversial, she kills Joel, in front of Ellie and Tommy. And that’s where the game starts.

It was a hug risk killing Joel, especially at the start of the game, which cause Ellie to go on a quest fro revenge to find Abby and avenge Joel. It is also a lot more brutal than and violent but it is the Last of Us, so or course it is violent.

There is some new game mechanics such as dodge when pressing L1, and with more crouching in which steal plays a huge role. Also the fact that the NPCs actually have names. It seemed very odd, but I think the intention was to make them more human, especially in the messed up world.

Also midway through the game, you begin to play as Abby, Joel’s killer and learns about her relationship with the WLFs, and her past as a Firefly. Also learning that her father was one of doctors that was killed at the end of the previous game.

The Abby sections of the game, I think really fleshed out the world. Seeing other factions and learning about the war the WLFs, had with the Seraphites. I also felt that her section of the game was a lot more challenging especially dealing with the Rat King infected from the hospital.

I feel that her sections of the game, was not merely to make her sympathetic, but to flesh out her character, I always think that the best villains are heroes in their own stories.

There is also a character named Lev, who is a trans man escaping the Seraphites and was banished for “shaving his head”.  Lev is one of the few trans characters in gaming, but he also has dealt with abuse and also being dead named by the Seraphites.

Let me give my thoughts about the ending. The ending is set about a year later, with Ellie living with Dina and raising JJ, but then found a lead on where Abby is. She spends time going to Santa Barbara to confront Abby and sees another faction that enslaves people, and is holding Abby and Lev.

When Ellie finally confronts Abby, they have a brawl and in the end she lets Abby go. I know it may seem controversial at first but really thinking about it. It ties a lot into revenge and forgiveness. While I don’t think Ellie forgives Abby, but I think it was important to let her go. When Joel died, Ellie didn’t really forgive Joel for lying to her about what happened at the hospital. Even at the end she goes home and finds that Dina and JJ has left, ending up all alone.

I really enjoyed playing Last of Us Part II. It felt like a really great book that you could not put down. It fleshed out a lot of the story, world and characters. I feel that some of the criticisms was warranted but not to the extent of making death threats to voice actors or to those who liked the game.

Grade: 9/10

Fierce Fanboy Friday-The Last of Us

Happy Friday everyone,

This is a book meme I recently found out about and it looked like fun.

Fierce Fangirl Fridays are hosted by Jackie @ Too Much of a Book Nerd 

Whenever you have something, anything to fangirl about – whether it be a book, TV show, music, celebrities, your pet, the universe, finding your soulmate or just a recent meal that you’ve had – Fierce Fangirl Friday is your opportunity to do so! It doesn’t matter if it’s a recent obsession of yours or something you’ve been loving for a while!

For my first fierce fanboy I am going to talk about The Last of Us. While it is not book related I just want a chance to talk about one of my favorite video games.

The game was developed by Naughty Dog, at first they were mostly known for the Crash Bandicoot and also known for the Uncharted series. The Last of Us is set in a post apocalyptic world in which zombies or “the infected” roam around with also scavengers and cannibals also.

You play as Joel, someone who has dealt with a loss and is tasked to take a girl named Elie across the US to the Fireflies because she is immune to the infection. While it may seem like a simple game its the story and characters that pull you in.

Both characters of Joel and Ellie are equally compelling and have great arcs to them. They pull you into the story and you care about those characters even long after the game is over.

If a game can out you to tears within the first 20 minutes you know its a great game. It is not just a good story. but the game play is also amazing. For a zombie survival game it has good game play in which you could either go stealth or full out guns blazing or both.

The infected come in many forms; runners, clickers and bloaters

 

and with each infected you have to fight them differently and with the clickers its best to get them from afar because one bite and you are dead.

The reason why I was very late in playing this game is because when the game was first released back in 2013, I had an XBOX, and it wasn’t until this year I got a PS4 I was able to play this game.

Throughout the game there is a lot of great story elements and it can be emotionally draining and there was several points that I had to turn off the game and collect myself.

The Last of Us is a great video game that mixes good game play with a fantastic story. Play it if you have a Playstation, or you don’t have one than watch the cut scenes on Youtube.

Have you played The Last of Us? Are you excited about The Last of Us 2? Let me know in the comments below.